28/10/2020 Let me be very clear. Using a term that is a racial slur makes an environment where a Person or People of Colour are present, feel hostile and unsafe. Using what is a racial slur or racist language smacks of dismissal and disregard. It puts a Person of Colour on their guard and gives them the message that they are not truly welcome or safe in your presence or environment. It is designed to put People of Colour ‘in their place’... but it doesn’t work as well as it used to. A Person of Colour may not say anything to you in a situation where a racist word is used in their presence, perhaps because... - they are in a minority in an all/majority White environment and suspect (or know) they will be dismissed, gaslighted, silenced or ‘put in their place’. - they don’t want to be accused of ‘playing the race card’ or told they are too/over sensitive’. - they’re actually in shock and trying to process what’s just happened or trying to form an exit plan (seriously).
